“You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake.”
So advised Rep. Jeannette Rankin, R-Montana, the only member of Congress to vote against both world wars.
Muhammad Ali understood. Much has been written about his 1972 sojourn to these parts to fight light heavyweight champion Bob Foster at Lake Tahoe with Mills Lane as referee.
Only the Barbwire covered his encounter with Sir David Frost.
Last Saturday came this from Matthew Anctil in Denver: “My mom, Beth Anctil, was a sales rep at KOLO-TV and got my dad and me in…I searched KOLO and David Frost and voila! up popped your article – we were in the same room! I specifically remember Ali getting upset about the bacon on his meal, which you mentioned as well.
“He was the greatest, a memory I will never forget. Nice to find your column across the miles and years. Hope all is well in the Big R, a city I fondly remember from my formative years. I was a Wooster Colt.”
The full column written at Frost’s 2013 death will be linked to the expanded Barbwire at NevadaLabor.com/ It includes a clip from the 1972 show that never aired in the United States.
WAR, WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR? To see an earthquake for yourself, hie thee to Carson City. The chilling traveling display “Always Lost” has come home for its final showing at Western Nevada College, Mondays through Saturdays until July 29 (closed July 4).
I first encountered it at the Nevada Legislature and publicly wept when I witnessed those faces of the dead of war. (Barbwire 4-18-2013)
It proves Muhammad Ali right once again.
SATELLITE GUN CONTROL. PBS reports that US-supplied weapons are readily available for all manner of terrorists from the main Iraqi Army depot “if you have influence,” according to Reuters.
Not news. Our tax money has long been funding all sides of the bloody trillion-dollar quagmire on the sands of Araby.
The solution is readily available: Satellite gun control, smart guns. If you can disable a stolen car via GPS, you can disable firearms.
The Necromantic Rifle Association is death on smart guns that can only be fired by their owners. Gun stores that stock them lose business and get death threats.
Smart guns may be bad for the profits of wealthy weapons manufacturers who fund the NRA but good for our troops.
So who are the real patriots?
SPEAKING OF DEATH THREATS. Last week, hundreds of senior softball teams came to Sparks to compete at Golden Eagle Regional Park. Expanded public hours were also announced so that locals can likewise play on cancer-causing, lead-laden, crumb-rubber toxic turf.
I was sickened to see innocent Carson and Douglas students without surgical masks raking up crumb rubber while scrubbing graffiti off the Carson High football field. Lead and benzene are especially dangerous for young people and the stuff is all over Nevada. (The Barbwire exclusive series began 11-24-2015.)
The EPA has finally opened an investigation. Golden Eagle’s turf is due for replacement this year. Does anybody at Sparks City Hall read?
Be well. Raise hell. / Esté bien. Haga infierno.
Andrew Barbano is a 47-year Nevadan, editor of NevadaLabor.com. E-mail <barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us> Barbwire by Barbano has originated in the Tribune since 1988.
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